F-body common repairs, problems

[Silver 99 Camaro]

I am evaluating what my car may need done to it over the next few years so I can decide whether to keep it or not. It's a 99 Y87 A4 with 59,000 miles, and here's what I've done so far:

Intake manifold gasket
TCC solenoid replacement (A4)
Front brakes, pads and rotors
Tuneup: plugs, wires, PCV, hoses, belt, coolant flush, etc...
2 fuel pumps
Shocks and struts

Needs:
AC compressor, making lots of noise
Strut mount going bad, not clunking yet

So in addition to what's been fixed and what is on the way out, what should I expect in the next few years? I have heard many things, but getting everyone's feedback on the most common and probably failures will help me a lot. Thanks!!

[1DangerousV6]

i would just take care of the needs and do good tune ups and maintenance...my car is approaching 90K and the only things i've ever replaced are the water pump, alternator, TCC solenoid (common with 4L60Es, and havent had any trouble since even with dragging the car), and battery...and of course plugs from spraying...you should be fine...the only other common repair i can think of that the camaro is supposed to have is the ignition cylinder..mine has given me some trouble in the past...but i havent had to replace it yet [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ December 10, 2004, 04:26 PM: Message edited by: 1DangerousV6 ]

[White95]

I have an AC compressor that I can sell to you cheap. Let me know.

[FirebirdGT]

Plug wires (2X)
Battery
Power steering pump
AC compressor
Tensioner pulley (exploded)

143,000 miles

[terminaldegree]

In addition to your list:
Ignition coils [$20 each]
Catalytic converter [$ varies]
Most everything else in my experience is general preventative maintenance and "wear items" with this car.

[majeskyb]

Umm, I've changed my plugs/wires, belt and fuel filter. I currently have 65k on her also. Besides routine stuff, she's been great to me. But yeah, make sure you check your belt every 10k miles, so it doesn't snap on ya. One last thing that went bad was the battery, but that was my fault. I didn't have a good connection for something that I attached to the pos. side, and it corroded the terminal and made it fall out of the battery. That was fun cleaning the post off.

[WishIHad$$$]

I'm surprised no one was said window motors [img]smile.gif[/img]

[99W68Firebird]

TCC solenoid (common with 4L60Es)

why cant we do something about this problem.. if theres enough of us that ***** about the problem and especially the price of fixing it when we have no control over how to prevent it from happeneing?

[Dan Vincent]

Originally posted by 99W68Firebird:
TCC solenoid (common with 4L60Es)

why cant we do something about this problem.. if theres enough of us that ***** about the problem and especially the price of fixing it when we have no control over how to prevent it from happeneing?

All of the vehicles that have this problem are out of warranty (as GM fixed the cause in 2000). They don't care.

[Die Ford V8]

as far as i konw its not a solenoid. its a little spring inside your transmission that moves a valve thing that when you let off the gas the fluid goes through and when you give it gas it stops fluid or visa versa. the spring is a regular spring and gets stuck sometimes and other times gets stuck permanently. the solution to this is a volcano spring, like on the negative side of an appliace that holds AA batteries. you notice how those dont ever get stuck?, well when you have your tranny serviced by transmission speciallists they know chevy's problems and just throw in a spring so they arent blamed for the valve getting stuck. springs in shiftkits i guess replace the regulars spring. it spring gotstuck in my car at 100,000 or so miles.


anyway, the only things i have done to my car. AND I DRIVE HHHAAARRRDDD. is alternator and that tranny thing. my ac has a leak somewhere. a few "96" things have gone wrong, but nothing to major. since im hard on my car i have replace the front breaks twice( if your thinking they were crap just imagine I have also gone through 4 sets of tires with the front wearing just as quick as the back)

I know have 156,000 miles on my car. @ 115,000 mile wires burnt up, because the clip broke and they rested on the manifolds. just make sure your wires have their little heat shields and make sure they WILL NEVER touch anything hot and you wont have problems with them. all in all i have been pretty blessed with a reliable car.

remember oil change every 3000 and your engine will last. sorry for the long post.

[Die Ford V8]

Originally posted by 99W68Firebird:
TCC solenoid (common with 4L60Es)

why cant we do something about this problem.. if theres enough of us that ***** about the problem and especially the price of fixing it when we have no control over how to prevent it from happeneing?

oh and the price of fixing it is a $3 spring, that if you go to a tranny shop that knows about this, they will change it for free with a regular filter change. mine would have been $175 filter and all and fix that problem, but i had the guy put in a shift kit instead and it cost a few $ more. then i found out that it is easy to change and they just include it into their regular service.

i realize now that they make it sound major for people that dont know about what it is. the guy told me it was a whole lot of stuff, until i got my tranny serviced from a trustworthy mechanic.

dont get fooled by a tranny guy, just tell them to throw in that $3 spring and youll be good to go.

[Silver 99 Camaro]

Ok, so it sounds like I have covered a lot of the common repairs already. Let me throw another list out then.

Already done:
Intake manifold gasket
TCC solenoid replacement (A4)
Front brakes, pads and rotors
Tuneup: plugs, wires, PCV, hoses, belt, coolant flush, etc...
2 fuel pumps
Shocks and struts

Needs:
AC compressor, making lots of noise
Strut mount going bad, not clunking yet

Probably will need:
Window motor (passenger is getting slow)
Ignition coils
Alternator

Once I cover the Needs and Probables, then I should be near the end of this fiasco. The only thing that still bothers me is that I have already had 2 new fuel pumps and no where have I seen anyone replace a lot of those on this message board. I don't run the tank low and I change the filter regularly. What's the deal with that?

I agree on the TCC solenoid. I complained to GM about it and they said they haven't had enough faiures to offer cost assistance. I complained about the fuel pump as well, since a Chevy dealer replaced it the first time under warranty, and they said to F off. They are not very willing to work with you outside of warranty.

The TCC solenoid is a lot more than a spring. The bore in the valve body wears and opens up allowing the valve to rock in the housing. This happens because it's a pulse-width modulated lock up on the 4L60E, meaning a gradual, "soft" lock up. This causes fluid leakage and the torque converter not to lock. When they fixed mine, the Sonnax kit replaces the entire valve. They ream out the valve body bore, press fit a sleeve into the larger bore, and install the new valve in the sleeve. It works great and they say the Sonnax kit is pretty much a permanent fix.

The GM fix is to ream it out and simply put another crappy, but larger bore valve in it's place. This larger valve rocks and does the same thing, failing a couple years later yet again. Fix it with Sonnax the kit, NOT the GM cheapo way.

[Tom Rs]

definetly window motors

[99W68Firebird]

well maybe i have more than just the solenoid bad, cuz i had P 1870 code, TCC Valve lock up.. dont know if thats any different then solenoid, but whatever im just gonna buy new tranny anyways cuz i think ours are prolly the reason why our cars suck balls when goin into 2nd gear.

[Silver 99 Camaro]

That is the exact code (P1870) signaling the TCC problem. It is not actually a solenoid, but a TCC valve as the code says (sorry I said solenoid a lot in my post). It cost me a total of $325 to have the new Sonnax valve installed. If that's the problem, I wouldn't go buy a new tranny.